Advocacy

APS E-News | Advocacy Update Report | September 2018

FDA Awards Opioid Analgesic Guidelines Contract

The FDA has awarded a contract to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to help advance the development of evidence-based guidelines for appropriate opioid analgesic prescribing for acute pain resulting from specific conditions or procedures. The primary scope of this work is to understand what evidence is needed to ensure that all current and future clinical practice guidelines for opioid analgesic prescribing are sufficient, and what research is needed to generate that evidence in a practical and feasible manner.

NASEM will conduct a consensus study and issue a report on its findings. This work will begin with an identification and prioritization of procedures and conditions associated with acute pain for which opioid analgesics are commonly prescribed and where evidence-based clinical practice guidelines would help inform prescribing practices.

As part of this work, NASEM will also scan the landscape of existing opioid analgesic prescribing guidelines, examine how they were developed and any potential gaps in evidence for those guidelines, as well as outline the research needed to generate that evidence.

NASEM will hold a series of meetings and public workshops to engage a broad range of stakeholders who can contribute expert knowledge on existing guidelines and emerging evidence or specific policy issues related to the development and availability of opioid analgesic prescribing guidelines based on their specialties.

APS is actively engaged in advocacy efforts to help you do your job.

The society's goals in advocacy are to advance the treatment of people in pain by ensuring access to treatment, removing regulatory barriers, and educating practitioners and policy makers in all settings about advances and economics of effective pain treatment.